Cocktail of the Week: The Darcy Farrow

"We do a seasonal cocktail list every three months, and I was just getting ready to put one out recently when [Esquire food correspondent] John Mariani came into town. He came to our restaurant and was singing this John Denver song, 'Darcy Farrow,' about love and loss, and the Carson Valley and Virginia City, and everything right around our restaurant right on the Truckee River. And he said, 'Wouldn't it be great to put a cocktail with these ingredients on the list?' And I actually already had pretty much that same drink, though I was originally going to call it the Ginger Smash.

"Reno is such a brown-liquor town, and I cannot make enough brown-liquor drinks. I love Bulleit in particular, because it's one of the only whiskeys that uses nearly 100-percent rye, which gives it a nice astringency. It's not overly sweet like a lot of ryes, even when paired with the ginger syrup." —Giancarlo Pellegrino, Campo, Reno, Nevada

The Darcy Farrow

2 oz Bulleit Rye Whiskey

1/4 oz Ginger Simple Syrup (recipe below)

3-4 Dashes Angostura bitters

Fresh peeled ginger

Ginger ale

Muddle two dime-sized pieces of fresh peeled ginger in the ginger simple syrup and bitters. Add ice and 2 ounces of rye. Shake, strain, and pour into an old-fashioned glass over rocks. Top off with a splash of ginger ale.

Ginger Simple Syrup

4 cups water

2 cups raw brown sugar

8 oz ginger, cut into smaller pieces with skin

Bring all 3 ingredients to boil, reduce to simmer for 6 minutes. Remove from stove and let cool at room temperature. Store in a glass container and keep refrigerated.

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